Apollo’s impatient old-timers are rooting for NASA’s return to the moon with Artemis II launch

In this photo provided by NASA, astronaut Charles M.

Duke Jr. collects lunar samples at Station No. 1 during the first Apollo 16 extravehicular activity at the Descartes landing site, April 21, 1972. (John W.

Young/NASA via AP) 2026-03-30T12:02:27Z CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The people who toiled night and day to put astronauts on the moon during Apollo are thrilled that NASA is finally going back .

They just wish these Artemis moonshots had happened sooner while more of Apollo’s workforce was still alive.

Now in their 80s and 90s, the dwindling survivors of NASA’s greatest generation would also like to see more enthusiasm for Artemis.

So few of them are left from the original 400,000 that no reunion is planned to celebrate the upcoming Artemis II flight around the moon by four astronauts as soon as April 1.

Those living near Florida’s Kennedy Space Center will watch the launch from their backyards. “Because it was the first time, there was an energy.

There was a passion that probably is not exactly the same today and hasn’t been for a while,” said Charlie Mars, 90, who worked on Apollo’s command and lunar modules and helped establish the American Space Museum in nearby Titusville.

Retired engineer JoAnn Morgan is still fuming that the last three Apollo moon landings were canceled under President Richard Nixon’s watch because of budget cuts, risk concerns and shifting priorities.

She was the lone woman inside launch control when Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins rocketed to the moon in 1969.

Three years later, Apollo 17 closed out the grand era. “I’m just trying to stay alive so I can see us actually get back and step foot on the moon,” she said. “I’m 85 and still feeling cheated after 53 years.” Morgan isn’t the only one frustrated with NASA’s — and the nation’s — dawdling. “It’s a good thing I’m not in charge,” Mars said, “because I would be out there beating the bushes and whipping up on people to get moving.” One big difference this time are all the women in key roles.

NASA’s Artemis launch director is Charlie Blackwell-Thompson.

The Artemis II crew includes Christina Koch, who holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman — 328 consecutive days in orbit. “It will be even greater when they actually have a woman who plants her boots on the moon,” Morgan said.

Apollo 16’s Charlie Duke points out that half the world’s population was not yet born when he walked on the moon in 1972.

NASA’s new admini

原文链接: AP News